Residuum
by Moiranne Rose
Summary: Because for that whole day after he returned from the Northern Crater, Reno didn't smile once. Rude's POV, during AC. For M, with love.


**Title: Residuum**

**Summary: Because for that whole day after he returned from the Northern Crater, Reno didn't smile once. For M, with love.**

* * *

_For Mad the Badass. Happy Birthday m'dear._

_

* * *

  
_

_I don't know how he made it back that day._

Outside, I hear the rhythmic _chop-chop-chop_ of the helicopter. The engine cuts. Minutes later, Reno stumbles into Healin Lodge, alone. Not even looking at Rufus and I, he merely dragging himself to his room in a daze.

After a few minutes, I press my ear against his door and listen as Reno repeats their names over and over, as if he thinks that if he says them enough, they'll miraculously appear again.

Rufus says he'll get over it soon.

* * *

It's been three hours (One? Four? Or is it tomorrow already?) since Reno came back from the Northern Crater. He ate his lunch, thankfully, which I brought up to his room. Or at least, he's pushed it around enough to look that way.

Rufus counts this as an improvement and I decide that Reno's always had a thing for blondes.

* * *

It's close to midday when the Remnants arrive, Kadaj storming the place with his brothers, demanding their "Mother" back. Reno and I instinctively place ourselves between Rufus and the intruders.

I fall, painfully, after three minutes of hand-to-hand fighting, after Yazoo's reflex action catches me off-guard. But Reno, the one who always prided himself in speed, falls almost instantaneously, moving as if in a dream.

Rufus refuses to admit that he conceals Jenova's head under his redundant wrappings, even under Kadaj's interrogation. When they finally leave, Reno, almost impervious to the pain of his new injuries, picks up the two fallen ID cards and returns to his room.

Neither Rufus nor I comment when he comes down, an hour later, with reddened eyes.

* * *

As AVALANCHE battled the Bahamut, Reno rouses himself long enough to fight with me against the three brothers, the three remaining shards of Sephiroth.

_His ferocity almost fools me that he's fine already._

When we're pushed up against the wall with no escape in sight, we look up long enough to see Rufus plummeting towards us.

"Mr President!"

We stand helplessly, watching, and then, as if in slow-motion, two shots are simultaneously fired and a safety net springs into existence.

Reno's pale face colours instantly. Although I know that it's not just because the President was saved.

* * *

The bombs were entirely my idea, but Reno surprisingly goes along with it without complaint. In that moment before Cloud, Yazoo and Loz come, as our lives hang in the balance, Reno turns to me with the air of someone who just made a great decision.

"It's just Turks' luck that we're stuck here, yo."

I don't say anything.

_The motorcycles scream against the concrete, closer now._

"These things really are powerful, aren't they, aibou?"

* * *

As Rufus' Geostigma melts away in the falling rain, I look at the four of us around him, watching as it disappears in a haze of green.

_We've all cheated death to get here._

_

* * *

  
_

Arriving back at Healin Lodge, there's an awkward lack of sound in which we examine each other, shuffle our feet and cast around for a triviality to start a conversation upon. I can see every one of Tseng and Elena's Potion-healed scars. Tseng, always the leader, breaks the minutes of unsettling silence, with a word I never thought he'd say with such emotion.

"...Reno."

In a blur of red and blue, Reno rushes at Tseng, almost hitting them both off-balance. Tseng's eyes widen for a moment, and then soften with an emotion I've never seen on his face before, as he smooths the tangled, damp red hair that falls over Reno's face. They stand there, locked in a fierce embrace, Tseng's arms encircling Reno's shivering, crying form, lost in another world.

I look to Elena. She's smiling, ever so slightly. I catch her eye and gesture to Rufus. Together, we politely remove ourselves from the situation to tend to our resting superior. As we go, I hear one, just one, broken sentence muffled by Tseng's blue jacket. One sentence that makes me take a step back and reconsider my partner all over again.

"Damn it, Tseng. I missed you."

* * *

**A/N: Finally roused myself long enough to write another TsengReno. Feels good to be back in my zone again.**

**Edited, as always, by the great GoldenShinyWireofHope. Love her. I do.  
**

**MR**


End file.
